Blog

Summer brings extra time to be outdoors, to play, to picnic and to read! Good reading habits are developed during your child’s early stages of development. By encouraging your child to read, by setting time aside to read to your child or have your child read to you and by taking them to bookstores or the library, you are instilling in them the tools for good reading skills that will carry them through school and their adult years.

One way to make a trip to your local library or bookstore special, is to have your child design his or her own canvas bag for books. We love the inexpensive bags at Oriental Trading.

What you need:
• Canvas bag
• Non toxic fabric markers or paint
• Disposable table cloth to cover the surface where your child is designing his or her bag

Ask your child how he or she would like to decorate their special book bag. Perhaps they would like to draw a character from a favorite book or make their own version of modern art and splash different colors on the bag. You can also change things up by decorating with felt or foam cutouts or embellishments that you can buy at any craft store. You can also make your bag decorating into a party by inviting over a few of your child’s friends to decorate bags with you.

Plan a trip to your library or local bookstore so your child can carry their books in their newly decorated bag. By using this bag just for “book trips” you are teaching your child that book time is special.

A few other benefits of having a special book bag:
• Storing library books in bag between trips will help them not get lost.
• Walking to your library or bookstore will add a touch of fitness to your day. You and your child will have the double benefit of exercise and reading time!
• Using a canvas bag instead of plastic will teach your child about being green.

What ways do you make reading time special for your child?

About MichelleH

29 Responses to “Summer Reading Time”

Great article. I am a true believer in reading to your children at a very young age. My son is in second grade and has been reading above his grade level since he began to read. I encourage every parent to read to their child not only at bedtime but during quiet time, etc. And take your children to the library or a bookstore. Get them their own library card. You will be amazed at just how much they grow into the love of reading. : )

I agree, great article! I am so happy that my son loves to read. I have always loved reading and I always hoped that my love of reading would “rub off” on him. I’m so glad it did! We love to read together every night before bed. When my son picks out a book to read, we will take turns reading pages or chapters (depending on how long the book is) or if there are different characters in the book, we will each pick a character and read the parts for that particular character. My son loves it that way. I always make sure to speak as the character would speak (high voice, low voice, funny, squeaky, etc)

I loved this article! We just signed up for our library’s summer book program and I hadn’t thought of using a decorated canvas bag to tote our (lots!) of books home in. I like that the child is involved in doing the decorating, which (at least here) makes them want to use the bag even more! Reading is so important for children and i loved reading these book tips in the summer! We love to read outside to include the nice weather in our fun.

Kellie,
Glad you liked it. Great idea about reading outside & taking advantage of the summer weather! You are giving your children a real gift with supporting good reading habits.
Thanks for being a Kolcraft fan,
Michelle

I think this is a great idea! My daughter is four years old and we are planning on putting her in pre school in the fall. This would be a great activity to get her excited about arts and crafts and I would love her to be able to read a few words before going. I want her to be the smartest kid in class!

I have 5 kids and all (except the baby) love to read. We use Mondays as our library day and make sure to visit every single Monday for new books. We do it all year long to keep the kids interested in reading.